Trauma Trailblazers

The Senator Francis X. Kelly
Professor of Trauma Surgery
position was named for
former Maryland senator and
trauma trailblazer Frank Kelly, primary
sponsor of the law creating the R Adams
Cowley Shock Trauma Center. Sen.
Kelly has served as chairman of the
Shock Trauma Center Board of Visitors
since its inception and is also chairman
of the Board of University of Maryland
St. Joseph Medical Center, a role he
assumed after University of Maryland
Medical System acquired the hospital in
2012, through an effort led by Sen. Kelly.
Additionally, he is a former chairman
of the University of Maryland Medical
Center committee of the UMMS Board
of Directors and founding director of
the UMMS Board.

Reprinted with permission of The Baltimore Sun Media Group. All Rights Reserved.

An indispensable partner who
worked tirelessly alongside Dr. Cowley
to establish the Shock Trauma Center,
Sen. Kelly has championed trauma care,
research and training at UMMS for
more than 35 years.

“I am honored to be a part of the
Shock Trauma Center and to help
protect this invaluable resource for the
region, the country and the world,” he
says. “When I ran for office in 1978,
I promised my opponent and good
friend, Dutch Ruppersberger [the current
U.S. representative for Maryland’s
2nd Congressional District] that I
would look out for UMMS’ shock
trauma initiatives if I won. Dutch had
become a strong shock trauma advocate
after the UMMS team saved his
life. So when I won the race and took
office, one of the first people I met with
was Dr. Cowley.”

Over the next four decades, Sen. Kelly
would foster UMMS’ shock trauma
efforts in innumerable ways, from
introducing the bond bill to build the
former shock trauma facility to chairing
the capital campaign for the new Shock
Trauma and Critical Care Tower. He
received plenty of help from his wife,
Janet: in addition to hosting dozens of
events to benefit the center over the
years, she was recently featured with
Sen. Kelly in a supportive new video
that plays for anxious loved ones in
the tower’s waiting area.

“The video is meant to give hope to
moms and dads, sisters and brothers,
and anyone who has someone very sick
in that operating room,” Mrs. Kelly says. “We want to give them words of
encouragement and remind them that
we save 97 percent of patients who
come through our doors.